The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) has commenced operation following Royal Assent of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 on 3 December 2012.

The Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) registers organisations as charities. Under transitional arrangements a charity that received charity tax concessions from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) before 3 December 2012, has been automatically registered with the ACNC, with no need to re-register.

Registration as a charity is voluntary. However, an organisation must be registered with the ACNC before it can receive any charity tax concessions from the ATO. It must also be registered to be eligible for other Commonwealth concessions, benefits or exemptions available to charities.

You can search the ACNC Register here.

If a charity is registered with ASIC, from the date it is registered with the ACNC some of its reporting obligations to ASIC no longer apply. But ASIC will remain as the organisation’s registry for some matters.

The dual roles of ASIC and ACNC are listed by ASIC here.